The Hodaka Club Forum

So last year my son purchased a Combat Wombat at Hodaka Days - a bike he has always wanted. It was missing a few key parts, especially a seat and pipe, which we soon located in a parts stash in Tacoma, WA. The pipe is especially challenging, as this particular VIN was in the first month of production so there are some unique parts compared to other Combat Wombats.

The parts stash actually included two of the pipes, one correct and one later version. The kicker - it was take the whole stash (Three roller frames w/o titles, 6-7 big plastic bins of parts, a pile of pipes and tanks, and a bunch of other related stuff. A good price was negotiated, and my truck and trailer were filled to the brim with parts.
What happened with his bike is in a different thread on here. The big surprise was the mostly complete 1973 Wombat which looked like someone had removed the tank, seat and motor and rolled it into a corner.
All wiring intact, lights, fenders, even usable tires. But since the Combat was the order of the day, it got rolled into the storage along with the bins of extra parts. (I should say that the seat from it was pristine and ended up on the Combat, and the tank is probably one in the pile.) Digging through one of the bins revealed what appeared to the untrained eye most of the parts for a 125 Wombat motor. We took the bin to my mechanical wizard who was able to discern we needed about $50 worth of misc internal bits including one gear, plus a new top end bore and he could build a motor out of the rest.

The other kicker was NO TITLES on any of the rollers. What to do? Called my buddy in Law Enforcement who ran all of my untitled Hodaka frames to assure they were not listed anywhere (NCIC) as stolen which they weren't. The Wombat, however, had been titled in Washington (my state) and he got me the contact info of the last registered owner. A search on Google and Facebook yielded the fellow who is now retired in Idaho, and he was more than happy to sign off on a lost title transfer! Woo Hoo!

But it gets better! When he sold the bike it had a holed piston. It also was licensed as a collector bike here. So at the DMV, all I had was a small excise tax, transfer fees and a new plate fee and I will have a collector plate probably next week! Amazing. Because it was already in collector status, I didn't have to pay the usual first year registration before converting to collector! I don't often leave the DMV smiling and still have money in the checking account!

The motor has already been done with all new bearings and seals, new fresh bore, new piston, renewed ignition, and I should have that back in hand in the next week. I'll post up build documentation when I get moving forward on it.

Wow! Quite the treasure trove. Looks like a lot of good trading stock too.

Nice!! Looks like you might have a couple chrome Super Rat tanks in that stash. Lucky! Also, I love it when the easy button gets pushed. I've always had to go through the bonded title process which is a magnificent PITA!

Nice score of great stuff. Would sure like to see some of this at HD 18!

MTrat wrote:Nice score of great stuff. Would sure like to see some of this at HD 18!

Chances are pretty good at least some of it will be there!

I’d like an Ace tank and a salad! Victor

What a "kit"!

Maxie

So we were bored today, so we visited the storage to pull the carcass out for further assessment.
Headlight area is in decent shape and seemingly complete, the blinkers are gone, but wiring, switch and indicator light present and accounted for!
More in a second!

Wiring is unmolested and appears intact.
And the taillight will polish up nicely! No cracks.
And in an amazing bit of good fortune, there is a quite pristine Pro Tek chain tensioner included at no extra charge!
All in all, this is an amazing bit of luck in my parts stash purchase. We replaced all internal bearings, seals, etc, and one broken gear on the Kickstarter. And a few missing shims. The fellow who titled it last sold it with a holed piston, I’m thinking possibly due to running an aftermarket chamber he described. Gonna go back to ground zero with the new bore until I get things sorted. I have several usable Wombat pipes in the mix, plus the chamber that he described for the full build!
The goal for now is to get it together, running, then later do a full restore/rebuild of the frame stuff. For now it will be entered in the Low-Buck-Build category!

That chamber in the middle with the chrome heat shields looks to be a Torque Engineering pipe. Possibly a Whispering Smith. I run them on a couple of race bikes and they are really great. I'm wondering if yours is the model designed for the Yamaha DT that has been modified for a high, right-side Hodie mount? Anyway, they are really well-made great performance pipes.

matt glascock wrote:That chamber in the middle with the chrome heat shields looks to be a Torque Engineering pipe. Possibly a Whispering Smith. I run them on a couple of race bikes and they are really great. I'm wondering if yours is the model designed for the Yamaha DT that has been modified for a high, right-side Hodie mount? Anyway, they are really well-made great performance pipes.

I believe it to be originally a Yamaha Pipe. It could be a Whispering Smith - need to look at the stamping. It IS USFS approved spark arrestor.

SoCal Hodaka has the same pipe on his Wombat, so I know it will Work fine!

I'm pretty sure it is a Whispering Smith pipe (they were USFS approved) but the header looks cut and rewelded. No biggie. Easy fix for any decent weld shop. You might need to come up with a different mounting set-up for a 94 Wombat. Remember, Kelly's Wombat's M94 looks are skin deep. It has an 03 Wombat motor (I think) with a spring mounted pipe and the stock M94 exhaust outlet accepts the threaded exhaust nut affair found on the stock pipes you have. Hopefully, Kelly will check in with advice. Great enduro performance pipe though. Cool note to boot.

Just went and took a look - it is a Torque Engineering - stamped right in the body. It also is set up for spring attachment like on the Yamaha, so I will either need to modify with another bad pipe tip or possibly add a super rat chamber mount to the cylinder if it will fit. Worst case scenario is I use one of the three fairly decent stock Wombat pipes that came in the pile

Now that's the kind of conundrum I'd like to ponder! Rock and a hard place for sure!

Today I picked up my motor. Fresh bore and piston, all new bearings, seals, etc (Hodaka-parts full kit), bead blasted, painted, ignition detailed and set, all ready to be installed in the newly titled frame!
Looks like all the electrics will be just plug and play. Seat cover on the way from Paul (might see it tomorrow), and most of the rest of the stuff we need isin misc inventory. Chances of this one making HD18 is getting better by the day!

No pics just yet, but my collector plate, title and new seat cover were all sitting in my post office box today! Should be an interesting weekend!

Gary the tang did not get welded back on for the shift cover, how are you going to handle that? -------------------- Clarence

taber hodaka wrote:Gary the tang did not get welded back on for the shift cover, how are you going to handle that? -------------------- Clarence

I have an innovative solution provided by another member here. I will post up the solution when I get ready to install the shift cover!

This motor actually was not broken, but I traded it’s perfect shifter side case half with my son’s Combat so his would be more correct! - sacrifices you make for your kiddo! The cases are interchangeable, and it kept his low numbers motor on his month one production Combat!

Looking good -------------Clarence

taber hodaka wrote:Gary the tang did not get welded back on for the shift cover, how are you going to handle that? -------------------- Clarence

So here is the solution to the chain case tang:
Basically bolts to an unused case hole and provides the needed support!

Where do you get them and the price?? --------------Clarence

taber hodaka wrote:Where do you get them and the price?? --------------Clarence

Read this thread. The maker is listed and the repair is also detailed in one of the Resonators noted in the thread.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2875

Motor bolted in, refinished the brake pedal & footpegs. Making progress . . .
It’s quite nice here today so we are able to work out in the fresh air!

We had a pretty good day today.


href="http://youtu.be/-usEAoKCv4U">youtu.be/-usEAoKCv4U


A bunch of loose ends to go, but we have made great strides! A few details to go after we order a few loose end parts.

The seat was pretty ratty, but the foam was serviceable.
I added a 3/16” layer of fusible foam rubber (Walmart Fabric Dept) to give a nice smooth underlay. Forgot to get a pic.
Cover from Strictly Hodaka.